Paris - Orsay Museum

We were up and out of the apartment by 8:30 AM so that we could get to the museum right as it opened (in order to avoid the crowds).  We walked to rue Etienne Marcel, around Place des Victoires, and continued on Rue des Petits Champs.  We noticed that the traffic was very light this early on Saturday morning.  We turned left and walked through Place Vendome, window shopping along the way.  As I was taking photos, I walked past a group of four youth.  I sensed something unusual.  No sooner did I pass them, someone walked beside me and pulled on the zipper of my side pocket.  They were trying to get my 2 euro red umbrella from Rome!!!  NO!!!  I turned quickly and they kept on walking.  Good thing they didn't try the other pocket. I keep my kleenex in that pocket. I told Tina that we needed to walk the other way because there were THIEVES in the area. 

We continued through rue de Castiglione and crossed rue de Rivoli to get to Jardin Des Tuileries.  Joggers were out already, as well as us power walkers, so we cut through the garden and enjoyed the view of Louvre one more time.  My goal was to cross the footbridge Passerelle Solferino.  This brought us just one building away from Musee D'Orsay.  We were there before the crowds!! We went through security without a whole lot of fuss.  My ScottEVest is hard to "empty all of your (28) pockets".  I just put the whole jacket through and they are happy.

Wow, the Orsay has been renovated. It's beautiful.  We tried to use our Rick Steves guided tour, but paintings had been moved so it was hard.  We stopped to listen as we found paintings that he describes.  I had intended to stay about an hour...and we stayed for 3 hours.  Tina got to see more of her new favorite artist Renoir, and I found my Monets and Van Goghs.  No photography allowed inside the museum. Sorry. There was a lot of really great pieces of art. AND it started to get really crowded.  Time to move on to the next stop on the tour...Rodin Museum (see the seperate post).

Enjoy the photo part of the tour!

Place Vendome, quiet at this time of the day.

Shiny things for sale

The windows are very "springy"
This is the photo I was taking when the pickpockets tried
to get in to my ScottEVest.

Really cool pedestrian bridge.

People hang locks on the bridge. I understand
that this is to indicate the solidity of a relationship.
Very romantic.

Signs of spring on the way to the museum.

We are thrilled. Up early and no long lines to start the day.

Another shot of those showy pink trees.

ANOTHER SCAM ATTEMPT: as we were leaving the Orsay Museum, a woman with a gold ring in her hand asked if we had lost it.  The scam is to find the ring, then try to sell this jewelry marked 24K to the visitor.  I told her that I knew her scam so leave us alone.  World traveler...